HK shares to fall on US data, global economy fears

HONG KONG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are expected to fall on Friday, with the main index seen below support at 20,000 points, after worse-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data dampened confidence in a global economic revival.

Wall Street had its steepest decline in more than two months on Thursday, as more signs of weakness in the labour market and increasingly sluggish growth overseas fuelled fears about the ability of the U.S. economy to stage a recovery.

U.S. listed shares in local large-caps tumbled overnight with HSBC Holdings (0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (HBC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dropping 3.3 percent and China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (CHL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) falling 4.6 percent.

"We are already at a one year low and next support for the Hang Seng Index is at 19,400," said Ben Kwong COO with KGI Asia.

"But following this week's correction we should see a technical rebound over the next two weeks as shares are heavily oversold."

Hong Kong shares fell 1 percent on Thursday to their lowest close in a year, weighed by earnings concerns amid slowing economic growth, while China Communications Construction (1800.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plummeted on broker downgrades.

STOCKS TO WATCH -

* China Merchants Bank (3968.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it had issued 30 billion yuan worth of subordinated bonds to institutional investors in the domestic interbank bond markets, and the fund raised would be used to replenish its capital base and improve the capital adequacy ratio. For statement please see here

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* China Railway Group Ltd (0390.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it would seek shareholders' approval in a meeting on October 20 on its plan to issue as much as 15 billion yuan worth of corporate bonds with maturity of up to 15 years within 36 months in single or multiple tranches. For statement please see here

----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2238 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 .SPX 1236.83 -2.99% -38.150 USD/JPY <JPY=> 106.18 -0.37% -0.390 10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.6245 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD <XAU=> 791.45 -0.39% -3.100 US CRUDE CLc1 107.4 -0.45% -0.540 DOW JONES .DJI 11188.23 -2.99% -344.65 ASIA ADRS .BKAS 128.16 -3.45% -4.58 ------------------------------------------------------------- *Global growth, U.S. job fears hammer Wall Street [ID:nN04295126] *Oil falls on soft U.S. fuel demand, shrugs Gustav [ID:nSIN99790] *Dollar rallies vs euro, trades at year's high [ID:nN04421830] *Bonds briefly pare gains after U.S. PMI data [ID:nL4319850]

(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by )